Andre and I stealth camped in Otter State Park with a wonderful ocean view after picking more than 10 pounds of chanterelles today. The sun came out after a long morning of rain at Joseph’s RV park, where we’d been sleeping for the past couple of nights. Some visitors arrived around 9, so we got up and started making breakfast, pretending to be picnicking—acorn flour pancakes topped with fruit, a new favorite.
We hiked all day just north of Gold Beach picking chanterelles while watching and listening to the waves crash atop the bluffs below us. A huge storm had moved in, and was expected to bring more rain in the next few days than they’ve had in a month, maybe longer. It made for a lovely day as we were completely protected by the shelter and care of the giant trees that house our favorite foraged food—mushrooms. I found 2 huge lobster mushrooms, the freshest we’ve had on this entire trip, and we loaded bags with heaps of chanties, our new favorite agarics (wine-colored and smithii), amanitas, porcini, blewits, and several others that we intended to key out later.
Before leaving town, we stopped into Joseph’s buying block-style shop to say goodbye and I convinced Andre to offload some mushrooms. We had more than we could possibly eat, more than we could ship off to LA, and they were filling our entire bus floor, leaving us no room to walk. I had a feeling they’d just end up rotting before we had a chance to sell them elsewhere. The fun for me is picking and with a full bus, we’d have to take the day off.
That evening, we cooked dinner for Anna and Joseph—chanterelle chowder with leeks and potatoes. We visited all night, drinking wine, playing with the dogs, and watching television.
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